FOOTBALL: Lions' Suh fined $30,000; says kick not on purpose

ALLEN PARK, Mich. — Ndamukong Suh isn’t sorry for what he did to Matt Schaub.

“I was dragged to the ground,” Suh said Wednesday. “A lot of things happen to me.

“It’s part of the game.”The NFL fined the Detroit Lions defensive tackle $30,000 for unnecessary roughness because he kicked the Houston Texans quarterback, but the league didn’t suspend him because it couldn’t reach a judgment on his intent.

Suh was on his chest after being taken down by an offensive lineman when he extended his left cleat and hit Schaub below the belt in Detroit’s loss to Houston last Thursday.

For the first time Wednesday, Suh tried to explain what happened.

“It’s a crazy play, it’s one that unfortunately happened,” he said. “I didn’t even realize it until the end of the game, when I see my Twitter feed, I see my friends telling me about it. Other than that, I can’t do much more about it. I was being dragged to the ground and my foot inadvertently hit the man.

“But it’s over with and I am moving forward and getting ready to play the Colts.”

Detroit (4-7) will have Suh on the field when it hosts Indianapolis (7-4) because he dodged another suspension from the league. His reputation, though, has taken another hit.

The NFL suspended Suh for two games last season after he stomped on Green Bay’s Evan Dietrich-Smith in a nationally televised game on Thanksgiving Day. Suh said he was sorry to Dietrich-Smith personally for stomping on his right arm.

“I think I’m always going to be punished some form or fashion for last Thanksgiving,” Suh said. “I apologized for it and I will continue to apologize for it. It’s something that happened, a mistake that I made, I’m living up to it and I’ll continue to move past it. Some people may not, some people will and some people will teeter-totter back and forth depending on whatever the situation is.”

Schaub refused to talk about the play, or Suh, after last week’s game and declined to say much about it or him again after Wednesday’s practice.

Cutler did choose to chime in on the 6-foot-4, 307-pound Suh, who has ferociously knocked him down multiple times and once finished off a tackle by twisting and ripping his helmet off.

“It seems like he’s always in this predicament every five, six, seven games,” Cutler said. “You have to be aware of him when he’s playing football. He’s a tough competitor. He plays hard.

“Sometimes, he goes overboard.”

Delhomme agreed.In a preseason game two years ago, Suh grabbed Delhomme’s face mask, twisted it, wrapped his arms around his helmet and slammed him to the ground.

“What he did to me as a rookie and how he hit Cutler hard earlier this year were just aggressive plays,” Delhomme told The Associated Press in a telephone interview, adding that he’s likely going to stay retired in Louisiana. “But there’s no place in the game for kicking Schaubie like he did or stomping that guy last year on Thanksgiving.”

Tebow’s status unclear for Arizona

Tim Tebow has played with a broken leg. A fractured collarbone, too.

He would “love” to play Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals. But, two cracked ribs kept the New York Jets backup quarterback on the sideline last week and he isn’t sure if he’ll end up be back there again this weekend.

Tebow was limited at practice and acknowledged that he didn’t do much throwing. He’s a left-handed tosser, and the broken ribs are on the left side of his torso. The injury is expected to limit him the rest of the week, leaving him as a possible game-time decision as he was against New England last Thursday night.

“Pretty much whatever they asked me to do,” Tebow said of what he did at practice. “Got a few reps here and there, so just taking it slowly.”

He did add, however, that although it “might not feel the best,” he thinks he could “manage” if he had to play today and take a hit from an opposing defensive player.

Coach Rex Ryan thinks Tebow will be cleared to play Sunday “like he was last week.”

“We’ll see how he progresses through the week,” Ryan added before practice.

Whitworth: Raiders are “cowards”

Bengals offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth called some of the Oakland Raiders “cowards” for hitting him during an on-field skirmish.

Whitworth said on Wednesday that he hadn’t yet received a fine from the NFL. He expects a significant one later in the week. Whitworth and Raiders linemen Lamarr Houston and Tommy Kelly were ejected in the fourth quarter of Cincinnati’s 34-10 win on Sunday.

Whitworth hopes that veterans on the Raiders correct teammates who hit him and gouged his eyes during the scrum.

“I’d hope there would be guys on their team that would address that, but it is what it is,” Whitworth said. “You’ve got guys that want to make names for themselves and can’t, and then they get frustrated. It’s their opportunity to do something they feel and be tough, but that ain’t tough. Face-to-face is tough.

“Most of those guys, they are what they are they’re cowards. And if they really wanted to have an issue with you, they’d address you. But they obviously don’t.”

Allen fined $21,000Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen has been fined $21,000 for a hit on Chicago Bears guard Lance Louis on Sunday.

A person with knowledge of the fine tells The Associated Press that it was levied Wednesday, three days after he knocked Louis out for the season with a hit that injured Louis’ left knee. The person requested anonymity because the league has not announced the fine.